I’ve done lists of feminist books I recommend and/or want to read before (here), but never has such a list felt so important. With the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the US and the subsequent domino fall of reproductive rights across various states in the US, it feels like the entire world has been thrown back a century or so into a dark abyss. I’m not exaggerating. I don’t care what your personal opinions are on a person’s right to choose, this isn’t good for any of us. It doesn’t save lives – it puts both pregnant people and fetuses at risk. If access to legal and safe abortion is removed or severely limited it does not – I repeat DOES NOT – stop abortion. It just makes it riskier. If the goal is to stop abortions, it’s first necessary to look at why people are making that choice, and without assumptions about irresponsible sexual choices or a wanton disregard for human life. I’m of the opinion that the decision to get an abortion is NEVER an easy one. It might be easy to know it’s the best option in certain circumstances, but living with the fallout of that is not. Regardless, there are all kinds of factors that go into that choice. Medical issues. Financial issues. Abusive relationships. Sexual assault. The health of the fetus. The situation of the pregnant person. And those are just a few.
I have a lot of anger around this issue, in large part because it feels so short-sighted to force anyone to carry a baby they either don’t want or can’t safely have or care for. Removing the right to make that choice isn’t the answer. What happens AFTER the baby is born? It’s going to force people to go through a pregnancy but not support them if that pregnancy leads to loss of work? Not help them to safety if they’ve been abused? Not support them if they have mental or physical health problems that make it hard or impossible for them to care for a baby? Not offer childcare so they can then return to school or work? Not offer support to those who are on their own and may not have family or a community to lean on? Not make childbirth safer? This is just a small sliver of the ways in which an unwanted or unplanned baby can affect a person’s ability to not only pursue the life they want for themselves, but their ability to survive.
As someone with multiple medical issues, I can tell you that if I lived in a place where I didn’t have access to safe abortion and would be forced to risk not only my health, but the health of my unborn baby if an unplanned pregnancy happened, I’d be moving. Or choosing abstinence if I couldn’t get somewhere safer for me. Because I couldn’t be okay with ending up in that situation. And as a mother who very much wanted and loves her baby, but who suffered from horrible post-partum depression and anxiety (on top of medical conditions for both me and the baby that were all challenging to manage), I can tell you that even with support, financial security and a team of helpers and medical experts, the first couple of years were harder than I could ever have imagined. And I chose that experience. And it was more than worth it. If I hadn’t been given a choice? If I’d had to go through that when I hadn’t been ready for it? If I hadn’t had all the support I did? I can sure tell you my baby would have suffered for it. That would have made a barely survivable situation impossible. I would not have been able to make it out the other side in one piece. This is not something to be taken lightly; it’s a life-changing, all-consuming rollercoaster of emotions, sleep deprivation, constant demands, judgment and fear. Don’t assume that just because we all had someone carry and deliver us that their stories were easy or the same. Being a mother/parent is always hard, even if it’s what you want. If it isn’t? I don’t know how you make that work.
I keep wondering if everyone who has sex with a biological/fertile man who lived in a state that has outlawed abortion just decided not to have intercourse anymore, how long would it last? Call me cynical, but I feel like it’d be turned around pretty quick.
There’s not much I can do about this issue except add my voice to the outcry. This isn’t okay. This isn’t smart. This violates human rights and body autonomy. This isn’t the world I want to live in, nor is it the world I want my kid to grow up in. This needs to be fixed, and quick. Because the longer this goes on, the more lives will be ruined. So here are some books I think are important to check out that either deal with this issue directly, or talk about reproductive rights or more general feminist viewpoints. I’m planning to do a longer reading list soon, but this is a start. I’m not religious, but I have included a couple of books written from a Christian perspective that discuss why choice can be seen as aligning with Christian values. I’m not making any assumptions about viewpoints I know nothing about, and I’m not trying to offend anyone – I just thought it was an interesting perspective to include here and one that I’d like to explore and understand.
(Note: I’ve very purposely avoided using “women” or “mother” as much as possible in this introduction, because I want to be inclusive of trans, intersex and nonbinary experiences of pregnancy and birth and acknowledge the unique challenges that are faced by members of those communities in this situation. I haven’t yet been able to find any books on this area, but am looking. If anyone has any recommendations, please, please drop them in the comments. In the meantime, you can read more here and here.)
Women’s Bodies, Abortion Options and Natural Fertility
Essays and Personal Writings on Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Historical Perspectives and Personal Historical Accounts
Modern Pro-Choice Feminist Activism
Stories from Medicine and Clinic Escorts
Christian Voices
Race
Upcoming
This is just a small sample of the books that are out there dealing with reproductive rights, and I think that reading some of the historical accounts of what happened when a pregnant person was desperate not to be before legal abortion is a chilling and vital thing to do right now. We need to understand exactly what this means, and to start looking for ways to support the reproductive rights and needs of pregnant people. It’s just so important to really understand what happens next.
Sorry this post was a bit of a downer in some ways, but I hope it’s also an invitation to find some new books to read on a topic that, in one way or another, impacts all of us. I’d love to hear any recommendations you guys have in the comments, and if you’ve read any of these, feel free to share your thoughts!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
It’s okay to have a post that isn’t sunshine and roses, because life isn’t all sunshine and roses. Thank you for sharing informative books on a challenging topic. I’ll be looking some of them up.
Stop by and see my first ever Top Ten Tuesday!
Thank you. I agree – sometimes hard topics have to be discussed, and this is definitely both hard and necessary to engage with. I haven’t read any of these in their entirety yet, so feel free to pop back and share thoughts if you do and up checking any of them out! (I purchased two during my research for the post and have them on my TBR now, so hopefully I’ll get to them and post reviews at some point!)
Thank you for this list. I agree so much with what you’ve said but I’ve done very little reading on this topic so appreciate the starting list
Thank you. I did a women and health class in college that really got me interested in learning more about reproductive rights and the history surrounding them. I haven’t read any of these cover to cover (though a couple are ones I found through that course and used as reference book to look up things I wanted to learn about – notably Our Bodies, Ourselves which I think every woman or person who could become pregnant should be given at puberty, because it answered so many questions I didn’t even know I had), but have a couple waiting for me to get to them. Feel free to pop back and share any other books you come across or thoughts on any you’re reading!
What a great list!!! Thank you for sharing it with us. It’s so relevant.
Thank you! I was a little nervous posting it as I know this is both a deeply personal and controversial topic. But I ended up deciding it would be wimpy not to post it, so I took a deep breath and went for it. I’m glad, because it was the right thing to do and so far I’ve had such lovely responses! I’m hoping to read a few of these myself soon as I need to learn more.
I ADORE this list. I’ve been so angry to see what’s happening to women’s rights in America. Pro-life people should be ashamed of themselves.
Thank you! Yes, I’m furious too. I’m trying to allow for people who have been raised in insular cultural circumstances and who may not fully understand the repercussions of this or yet had to talk to anyone who has suffered for it. I’d like to think that minds could be opened and understandings could be reached (hence my inclusion of a couple of Christian books on the list), however I do feel like that’s probably more my desire to look for the best in people than based on reality. It’s a treacherous situation for so many people now, and so many lives are being destroyed as we speak. I hate that this is happening, and that there’s so little we can actually do to stop it. I can’t believe this is where we’re at in 2022.
Bravo. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Thank you so much!
I will definitely have to look into some of these, I’m so angry about the decision to overturn Roe V Wade and the fact that lawmakers just don’t seem to care how detrimental the decision is going to be for so many people and that in effect it means people who can carry children have less bodily autonomy than corpses: you would never take an organ from someone who has died if they hadn’t consented to it in life, but you can force a person to carry a fetus when they don’t want to? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/19/top-ten-tuesday-377/
This is such a great point. I hadn’t thought about it in these terms before, but mind=blown YOU ARE SO RIGHT. It makes me so deeply sad. Sad for all the people whose bodies and lives are being taken over by this, sad for the doctors who want to help but whose hands are tied, sad for the social workers whose already overflowing desks are about to be buried under an avalanche, sad for the people who have suffered horrible things already and now have this to contend with, sad for the people who aren’t able to safely carry a child, sad for the people who aren’t able to care for a child either due to physical or mental issues or financial struggles or any of the many other reasons it can be so so hard, and also – though it seems odd to say – sad for the people whose understanding of the world is so limited and whose imaginations are so small that they aren’t able to think outside of their silos or understand the larger context of what this means (or those who just don’t care). I don’t think anyone actually gains from this. Some think they do, but I think they’re missing the fact that desperate people do desperate things, and they’ve done much more harm than good and cost more lives than they’ve saved. It’s not the answer, especially to something that wasn’t even a problem to begin with. Sorry, long tangent, I just have all the feels right now. I hate that this is where we’re at, and I hate that there’s nothing I can do about it.
This post was excellent, and I completely agree with you.
I have some medical stuff going on that would make pregnancy and parenthood harder than normal for me.
Parenthood should be a choice. Always.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-an-outdoor-adventures-reading-list/
Thank you. Yes, I hear you. I hope never to be in the situation of having to make this decision, but at the same time I so value the fact that I would have that choice, regardless of how hard it may be. I am so upset by the fact that generally there’s a lot going on for people who are in this situation. Whether it’s a mistake made or a failure of birth control or abuse or medical issues or, or, or… I just feel like there’s always a hard situation already, and this is now piled on top of whatever situation led to it. That’s so much to carry. I’m so scared for the people who don’t have this option now, and what that will mean for them.
Jane Against the World is So Good. It really helped me understand the scope of the law. My TTT Freebie list
Oh excellent! That is the one that has been calling to me the most (it’s on my TBR pile next to me as we speak) so I’m thrilled to get a favourable review from you! It’s probably where I’ll go first from this list.